[Illustration: ]
Garden City New York
Doubleday, Page & Company
1917
Copyright, 1913, by
Chas. K. Reed, Worcester, Mass.
The numbers and names used in this book are those adopted by the American
Ornithologists’ Union, and are known both in this country and abroad. The
lengths given are averages; our small birds often vary considerably and
may be found either slightly larger or smaller than those quoted.
On some of the pages a number of sub-species are mentioned. Sub-species
often cause confusion, because they are usually very similar to the
original; they can best be identified by the locality in which they are
found.
The nests and eggs are described, as they often lead to the identity of a
bird. We would suggest that you neatly, and with ink, make a cross
against the name of each bird that you see in your locality, and also
that you write at the top of the page the date of the arrival and
departure of each bird as you note it; these dates vary so much in
different localities that we have not attempted to give them. As many
will not wish to soil their books we would suggest that they have a
leather-covered copy for the library and a cloth one for pocket use.
[Illustration: ]